The human cranium is probably the most common single anatomical element manipulated after the death of the individual. However, it is not uncommon to find isolated crania for which it is difficult to unequivocally determine the nature of the deposition, either intentional or natural. In order to establish whether naturally deposited and intentionally deposited skulls are characterised by different taphonomic patterns, we evaluated the state of preservation of 75 isolated crania (68 naturally deposited and 7 intentionally deposited) from sites in Africa, Europe, Near East and Asia, from approximately 2 million to 20,000 years BP. As a comparative reference, we evaluated the preservation pattern of further 101 skulls from individuals buried in primary deposition at two cemeteries. Finally, to determine whether the breakage pattern of skull-cups (skulls intentionally modified and manufactured into bowls) mimics a natural skull breakage, we analysed the preservation pattern of 19 skull-cups from archaeological and ethnographic contexts. Preservation and breakage patterns were evaluated using the Zonation method and the Landmark method. Results suggest that the intentionally deposited skulls have a pattern of preservation similar to the skulls found in cemeteries, and for both these categories, skulls were generally better preserved than naturally deposited skulls. The natural breakage pattern of isolated skulls also significantly differs from the breakage pattern of skulls modified into skull-cups, suggesting that it is unlikely that skull-cups were fashioned in a manner that imitates natural breakage patterns.

人类头盖骨可能是个体死亡后最常见的单一解剖元素。然而，发现孤立的颅骨并不少见，因为很难明确确定沉积的性质，无论是有意的还是自然的。为了确定自然沉积和有意沉积的头骨是否具有不同的颅骨特征，我们评估了来自非洲、欧洲、近东和亚洲遗址的 75 个孤立颅骨（68 个自然沉积和 7 个有意沉积）的保存状态，从大约 200 万到 20,000 年。作为比较参考，我们评估了另外 101 个头骨的保存模式，这些头骨来自两个墓地埋葬在原发沉积中的个体。最后，为了确定头骨杯（头骨被故意修改并制造成碗）的破损模式是否类似于自然的颅骨破损，我们分析了来自考古学和人种学背景的 19 个头骨杯的保存模式。使用 Zonation 方法和 Landmark 方法评估保存和破损模式。结果表明，有意存放的头骨具有类似于墓地发现的头骨的保存模式，对于这两类头骨，头骨通常比自然存放的头骨保存得更好。孤立头骨的自然破损模式也与改造成颅骨杯的头骨破损模式明显不同，这表明颅骨杯不太可能以模仿自然破损模式的方式塑造。